Fresh Art: Reinier Gamboa

Reinier Gamboa painted “Bear Bull,” an acrylic-on-canvas that’s 4 feet wide and 5 feet tall, while standing between two bands that were performing simultaneously at Miami’s White Room. The Cuban-born artist, who moved to Miami at age 11, lives with his parents and grandparents and has a brother who frequently brings his children over. Working at home, Gamboa becomes distracted and takes too many breaks, causing him to spend weeks or months on a painting. So, as an exercise in focusing, he painted live at an event a friend organized at the White Room. His goal was to create a painting from start to finish. He didn’t know he’d be in the middle of two performing bands. But despite the distraction, the pressure helped him focus.

“I knew I had to perform,” he says. “I painted for six straight hours. At 4 a.m., I stopped, and I was exhausted.”

“Bear Bull” is based on a 1926 photograph Edward S. Curtis took of Kyaiyi-stamik (Bear Bull) of the Blackfoot Nation. “It’s such a close portrait of the man that you can see every single wrinkle,” the 25-year-old Gamboa says. “And I fell in love with the landscape of his face and his expression. Even if I tried, I wouldn’t be able to tell what he thought while the picture was taken, which is great because it remains a mystery. I’m fascinated by the ideas and feelings an image like this can convey now. I’d like to be able to remind people that this land we walk on is ancient and that these people who were virtually wiped out had a strong spiritual connection with their surroundings since they saw the Earth as their mother [and] not something to be raped, bought, sold and conquered.”

Growing up in Cuba, Gamboa says he knew little about art history. “As soon as we got here in ’95, I found out about Salvador Dalí and my whole world changed,” Gamboa explains. “He opened up so many possibilities in terms of what painting could be.”

After graduating from the New World School of the Arts in Miami, Gamboa spent four years at the Art Center College of Design in California. After returning home in 2006, he moved in with his family and became somewhat reclusive. “I was just in my own little world,” he recalls. “And now, in order to balance the scales, I’m trying to be more out there and promote myself. That’s why I’m doing more live art and shows. I can’t just be a little monk artist. I have to go out there and show the work that I’ve done.”

His works include “Mary and Her Son As Magician,” an acrylic-and-oil painting that explores how divinity is portrayed. “Although no one knows what Mary or Jesus looked like, a generalized and often romanticized image of them has been handed down throughout the centuries thanks in part to the clergy and artists that have used their imagination to give form to text,” Gamboa says. “The figure of Christ holds a white rabbit on his left hand to associate him with a magician’s sleight of hand. The pure source of light emanates from behind both images, implying that these two figures are only shells and human masks of the truly unifying source of energy that is beyond all form and escapes all attempts at classification and human understanding.”

Another work, “Abuelo,” is based on a black-and-white photo Gamboa took of his grandfather at the park where they played baseball. “He taught himself how to read and write, do mathematics and acquire different sets of skills while growing up,” Gamboa says. “I seek to follow his example and continue learning and expanding my curiosity for the rest of my life.”

Gamboa’s work will be on view through April 27 in Paper Canvas Pigment, a group show at Artseen Gallery, 25 N.E. Second St., in Miami (305-237-3620 or Artseenspace.wordpress.com); through June 10 in Crystal Monoliths, a group exhibition at Morfiq, 297 N.W. 23 St., in Miami (Morfiqstudio.blogspot.com); and at the ArtFlorida Biennial Competition and Exhibition, which opens 6:30 p.m. Saturday and runs through April 30 at ArtServe, 1350 E. Sunrise Blvd., in Fort Lauderdale (954-462-8190 or Artserve.org).